Post by cjm on Sept 20, 2014 18:13:03 GMT

Science Shows Up in Force at People's Climate MarchScientists who do not typically take a policy position make an exception for climate changeSep 20, 2014 |By David Biello

The People's Climate March may end up being the biggest protest to urge action to restrain global warming yet. The march in New York City on September 21 is predicted to draw more than 100,000 people, which would top the tens of thousands who showed up in Copenhagen back in 2009. But how many scientists, whether they study climate change or not, will be there?

The idea of the march—first proposed by writer and activist Bill McKibben of 350.org—is intended to remind world leaders gathering in New York City for a United Nations climate summit that people around the world demand action to halt global warming. And action to combat climate change is what many scientists have been calling for since at least the 1970s, in a series of scientific publications and reports, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change series. "Writing more such articles is not going to change minds," says geologist James Powell of the University of Southern California, who is attending the march and helping to organize scientific involvement. "We need to do something more dramatic." Like many older scientists, Powell says he is doing it for his grandchildren. "I imagine my grandchildren and their children decades in the future asking: 'What did grandpa do?' I want to have an answer."

Powell, who was president of both Franklin and Marshall College and Reed College during the apartheid divestment movement, believes that it will take political muscle to force politicians to act. So he partnered with former professional biologist Lucky Tran to help organize Science Stands, which helped attract scientists from across the country and organizations such as the New York Academy of Sciences, which urged member via email to gather at the American Museum of Natural History to participate in the march. "If the most well-informed citizens are not willing to act, what hope do we have of averting climate catastrophe?" asks Pattanun "Ploy" Achakulwisut, a PhD student in atmospheric science. She enlisted other graduate students from Harvard University to join the march, partially with the help of a scientist / superhero poster exhorting scientists to "mobilize march [and] make history."